1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting the structure of a music piece in accordance with data representing chronological changes in chords in the music piece.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
In popular music in general, phrases are expressed as introduction, melody A, melody B and release, and melody A, melody B, and release parts are repeated a number of times, as a refrain. The release phrase for a so-called heightened part of a music piece in particular is more often selectively used than the other parts when the music is included in a music program or a commercial message aired on radio or TV broadcast. Generally, each of the phrases is determined by actually listening to the sound of the music piece before broadcasting.
If how the phrases including the release part of a music piece is repeated, in other words, the overall structure of the music piece can be understood, not only the release part but also the other repeating phrases can easily be selectively played. However, since there has been no such apparatus that automatically detects the overall structure of music pieces, the user has no choice but actually listen to the music to determine phrases as mentioned above.